My Almost 3 Year Old Is Still in Diapers!!

Hi, that's not bad to me, both of my children, boy and girl, were 3 before they were potty trained, I have something that's worth a try, my mother-in-law is a big believer in doing things like this when the signs is right. like in the alamac,the body signs, i don't even know what the right word is for it, i just ask her and she'll look it up and tell me, it worked for the bottle and diaper on both of my children and my girl (4) youngest one, is quite strong willed and did'nt want to either, but it worked with the signs. Hope this helps. M.

Two children, same approach, totally different experience.

DD was barely 2 when she told me she wanted to wear panties and use the potty. She was pretty much done in a couple of weeks.

DS was past 4 when he was finally ready. But again, done in a couple of weeks.

Neither one ever had accidents, except one time when DD was in Kindergarten and they wouldn't let her go when she needed to go. No accidents even at night. It was the easiest parenting thing I ever did...because I didn't do it. I let them have control over their bodies. Works great!

~A.

You are NOT ALONE !!!! My son refuses to cooperate! I have a nine year old who was potty trained by the age of 2 with no accidents. My 3 year old son could care less he tells me he wants to wear diapers forever !! My husband and I have continued to stick with it. My son protest every second even to the point of urinating in his pants on purpose,smiling arrogantly, and requesting a diaper! I hope if I continue eventually it will convince this strong minded child that I am right. I laugh to myself even as I write this b/c he made something so simple into my second job! Good Luck.

mine was until about then also...almost 3, one day she, just as stubbornly as she refused to potty train, decided she was a big girl and done with diapers. Not an accident since. Think thats one problem with the very bright kiddos, they wont be fooled into it. She'll do it when she's ready. I wouldnt worry unless you're having to send her to kindergarten in them lol

Here's what I've heard:

They can be scared of falling in, even when using the little toilets designed for potty training. So, be very reassuring with her. Also, show her how Mommy does it. Show her that you don't fall in, not even into the big one.

Also, make a special effort from here on out to change her diaper as soon it's wet. That way, she'll feel most comfortable when she's dry, and will want to use the potty when she's in her underwear.

Hope this helps!

L.

Take her and let her pick out some "big girl panties." If she's excited about them she probably won't want to get them messed up by having accidents. This worked GREAT with our son! One one accident after he put them on and that was mostly my fault by not getting him to a bathroom quickly enough. Good Luck!

She sounds like my daughter. It made me so mad knowing that she knew when she needed to go and wouldn't. I tried everything and nothing worked. Then on her third birthday something clicked and she decided to go potty. Although it took a while she hasn't had any daytime accidents in almost a year! I think she was just waiting for her own timing. I would just lay off potty training, but keep a potty chair in the bathroom just in case. She may just be waiting to do it so it feels like she made the decision.

stop fighting it. with a strong willed independent child all you're going to do is create more problems. don't mention it at all for the next two weeks--time to forget that you were bugging her about it and then try making a chart where if she stays dry for a whole week she gets a really, really big prize. Once she has her prize she only gets to play with it after she potties and if she has an accident she can't play with it the rest of the day--if at bed time she can't have it the next day. It took me backing off for several weeks and a chart with a hamster as a reward to get dd to potty train (she was almost 3.5)...i totally understand.

Of course they are. She has never had a wet bottom. Diapers today wisk the moisture away so quickly that they don't know what an uncomfortable diaper is. The median age for true potty training. (they go or tell you independentaly) is 3 1/2 or 42 months. So don't worry about it. She is not going to do it if she doesn't want to. Pushing and insisting can actually delay training rather that help. Just back off and relax. Show her where it is and how it works. Tell her it is there any time she wants to try it and leave it at that. By Summer if she is still not potty trained. Let her run around naked, that usualy helps. or a nice new orleans summer in a cloth diaper with plastic training pants! Yuk, won't take but a couple of days. Know severl mommies of strongwilled girls that used this method successfully.

I would say not to worry... although I know that it is hard especially when you want them out of diapers. My oldest just turned 4 in Feb and she was not completely trained until about 3 1/2. One day it just seemed to click with her and she has been full throttle since. She does still wear pull ups to bed but we might be close to eliminating that since they have been dry for quite some time and she has even gotten up in the middle of the night to pee. Good luck!! Sometimes they are stubborn and just want to wait until they are ready! :)

my three year old daughter just went thru the same thing. she had been bascally potty trained, and then went back to pooping in her underwear many times a day. we put her back in pull ups--which she thinks are scratchy, she was cloth diapered-- and told her tht when she showed us that she could poop in the potty for three days, we would try the underwear again. well, nothing changed for about a week, she just pooped in the pull ups, then we wer talking one day and she said,"when i go poop, you and daddy get angry" we were horrified, because we had gotten frustrated at her and told up it made us angry, but we hadn't thought she had taken it so hard. we spent about two days telling her that we woouldn't get angry with her any more, while she was trying her best to poop in the potty those days. then about four days ago she said, 'i think i'm ready to go back to underwear' and she hasn't had an accident since. now again, i can't tell you that it is permanent, or fixed, but it did seem to have some sort of psychological thing going, so maybe talk to your baby and see what her 'issue' is?

Has she beena round other kids her age using the potty? With her sibs being so much older, she probably doesn't relate to them. But is all the other 3 yr olds are doing it, she may be more interested.

Hi when my child was young i had a potty chair with a tray that locked on the side i would give her small pieced of soft candy to reward her when she went, we made a game of it ,where i would clap and tell her big girls go in the potty just like mama. some times i would read her a story and stay with her while she was on the potty, she was potty trained at 1 year old, the thing of it was to involve her in the process of thinging she was special, and she was loved

*S* My advice? Relax. I have 3 kids and they all potty trained in their own time. They have to make the decision that they want to otherwise YOU will actually be the one trained.. to notice their "cues"! My oldest (now 21) potty trained was a breeze, he practically potty trained himself by the time he was just past 2! My twin though, after him? I thought they were never going to potty train! One wasn't potty trained until nearly 3 years old and they other until just after. So yours still has some time yet. Just make it fun! Offer stickers or jelly beans for "success". One sticker or jelly bean for a successful "number one" in the potty and two for a successful "number two"! Worked wonders for my kids. They especially loved counting their stickers on their chart in the bathroom!

Good luck!

Lissa

As little ones develop, they have periods of learning in certain areas then suddenly they go off in a different direction and the skill they just learned sometimes seems to go away. If you think about it like windows opening and closing in the brain it will help you. A window can open for running and kicking but close for brushing their own hair, it will seem like they just don't have any idea how anymore. The skill is still there, just not in use right then.

When a window is closed nothing gets in...in that area. The child brains is focused on something else. It may seem like you are banging your head on a wall with potty training but she is still learning.

When she is ready it will be like others have said, she'll just start going and be mostly done, maybe a few accidents.

Keep encouraging her but make it fun. When she sits on the potty you can give her a reward such as a tiny M&M, the ones for baking are tiny. Make it a positive experience. NO PUNISHMENT!! She will associate negative things with going. She can have a star chart for every time she sits, she could have a special snack each time she sits, or one reward for when she sits and another for actually going.

Don't stress out because you are only making it harder on yourself. When that window opens you will see the rewards of your work.

hi C.. I know it's extremely frustrating, but my oldest (now 19) did that. We tried the pull ups, bribing, everything, until 1 day after her bath. I had forgotten to grab a pull up, so just put her night gown on her and was taking her back to her room to get her pull up on when she suddenly went running for the bathroom and onto the potty to pee. MAJOR light bulb!! lol We found out, if she didn't have something on her butt, she went potty. The next day I dressed her in a long t-shirt (one of my brother's that she used as a "security blankie") and let her run around all day, NOT one accident. Put her in a pull up that night, then did the t-shirt again the next day. That night I put her in panties (she held me to the "pretty beauty and the beast" panties promise lol) and that was it..she was trained. I don't know if this will work with your daughter, but hopefully it helps!
T.

The diaper has become a crutch...put training panties on her through the day...this will take more on your part and yes she will have accidents, but after a few of those, it will become uncomfortable for her...good luck.

Mother of three beatiful grown children and proud grandmother of six.

Hi C.! I have some friends who live in NOLA - two of them down in the Fr. Quarter (one has a house and the other rents an apt. from her)!

Anyway, about potty training - I personally don't know "normal" on this because my DD (who turns 6 the day after tomorrow) seemed stubborn, or like she wasn't getting the hang of it, or not interested at all.... I wasn't sure what was going on! I took her to the doctor, who diagnosed spastic bladder and put her on medicine (a syrup), which has REALLY helped! Went from multiple accidents a day to very rarely.

Just wanted to throw that out, because I held out, trying, and thinking that maybe this was just something that wasn't clicking with her. If you take her in and there is not a physical problem, at least you know for sure what you're dealing with! Alternately, if there *is* a physical problem then you will know for sure how to treat that issue, too!

Good luck!

We went through the exact same thing with my daughter, now 4 yrs old. I had finally thrown my hands in the air and given up. Well, literally the day after her 3rd birthday she woke up and said "mommy, I'm gonna use the potty today". And she did! From that moment on, she wore only panties and has been 100% potty trained since. Your daughter is probably closer than you realize. Just stay consistent and she'll get there when she's really ready. Good luck and hang in there.

A.

Hi C....my family owns a restaurant in the quarter...i live in biloxi...anyway my response is she will do it when she is ready...
my son was potty trained at 18 months and my daughter was 3...each child is different and she will let you know when she is ready. I decided with my daughter i would put on those cloth panties that are real thick and then put the plastic covers over them...they helped her with realizing she was wet and didn't like it at all. Like the others have said diapers take the wetness away so she may not even be aware she is wet.

Good luck